Is This Long-Standing Intervention Actually Helpful?

TL;DR: Many traditional therapeutic approaches rely on interpreting clients' experiences for them—but in NARM, we take a different approach. Instead of positioning ourselves as the experts on our clients' inner worlds, we support them in becoming experts of themselves. Interpreting our clients' experiences for them can sometimes miss the mark and, even more often, will reinforce an unhelpful power dynamic. In NARM, we prioritize collaboration and self-inquiry, helping clients build agency in their own healing process.

So many of us, as clinicians and helping professionals, were taught in some way to interpret our clients' experiences, behaviors, thoughts, and feelings for them. As an example, a client might begin a therapy session by saying how she's been avoiding social events, even when she wants to go, because she feels an overwhelming anxiety about being in group settings. This is what a traditional therapist might say to her:?"It sounds like this relates to the experience with your father that we discussed recently. You said that you often felt shut down by him and afraid of him. I believe that's what you feel when you're in social situations."?Do these kinds of comments sound familiar to anyone? For those of us who are seasoned practitioners, we might often find ourselves interpreting with our clients without even being aware that we're doing it.

In a recent NARM Inner Circle demo debrief clip, Dr. Laurence Heller, NARM founder, discussed why we don't often use interpretation as an intervention in NARM. Not only can interpretation sometimes be inaccurate or not resonate with a client, but it also puts practitioners in the position of authority in the therapeutic relationship. One of the key differences in NARM, as opposed to more traditional therapeutic approaches, is that NARM does not consider the therapist or helping professional as the expert in the client's inner world; our expertise is in helping our clients become experts in paying attention to their own inner processes. NARM sees practitioners as collaborators in the healing process with their clients.

Ultimately, when we over-rely on interpretation as a therapeutic intervention, we reinforce the idea that we know our clients better than they know themselves. And in NARM, we're trying to shift the power dynamic and continuously support our clients to know themselves better. This type of self-knowledge, where a client comes to their own conclusions and interpretations, plays a pivotal role in reinforcing agency in the healing process.

To learn more about the NARM perspective on interpreting our clients' experiences, watch the demo debrief clip today!